Favorite Schools

Favorite Teams

Mayor Bill de Blasio updates New Yorkers on yet another snow storm Wednesday February 5. From the far left of his podium is Sanitation Commissioner John Doherty and Office of Emergency Management Commissioner Joe Bruno. On the right of his podium is Department of Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg, Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina, and FDNY Commissioner Salvatore Casano.
(Staten Island Advance/Jillian Jorgensen)

CITY HALL - Mayor Bill de Blasio defended the decision to
keep city schools open Wednesday, despite a miserable morning commute.

"The question always is, can we do it safely and
effectively?" de Blasio asked. "We knew today there would be some delays with
kids getting to school, but we knew they would get there. We knew there would
be some challenges in operating schools, but we knew we could operate them."

The city is legally required to hold at least 180 school
days each year, which is a factor in the decision making, de Blasio said, among
many other considerations. The mayor's children have attended city schools; his
son, Dante, is currently a student at Brooklyn Tech.

Parents are thinking about many different things when it
comes to snow days, de Blasio said.

"Obviously first and foremost, the safety of our kids. Parents
want to make sure their kids education is continuing as uninterrupted as
possible," de Blasio said. "A lot of parents have very difficult schedules and
rely on the consistency of the school schedule for a good and safe place for
their kids to be."

But some Staten Island parents gripe that outerborough
conditions just aren't the same as those in Manhattan -- where students live
closer to their schools and tend to walk or take the subway. In areas like
Staten Island, students depend on school buses or their parents cars to get to
school -- putting them on the icy roads de Blasio warned motorists to avoid.

But the mayor and Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina said
allowing different school districts or boroughs within the city to call snow
days wouldn't work.

"I find that hard to conceptualize," de Blasio said, though
he had heard the proposal before. "I think it's one system."

Farina said it would lead to confusion, even within boroughs
as elementary, middle and high schools can be parts of different districts.

Ms. Farina said as of around 11 a.m., citywide school
attendance was over 60 percent, and likely to rise.

"In almost close to 50 years in education, the schools have
closed less than 10 times," Ms. Farina, a longtime city DOE employee, said. "So
we do close them very carefully."

For some students, she said, school is a safe haven - the only
place they know they'll get a hot lunch.

Parents can and will make their own choices about sending
children to school, she said.

"For the parents who made the decision to stay home with
their kids, that's great, but as of right now, no big businesses in New York
City are closed, so I'm assuming all parents who work, had to go to work," she
said. "So I don't think making a decision that's not citywide makes sense --
because the decision parents have, not to send their kids to school, or send
them, is their decision."